jcoppola

Been a while but I just checked in and the site looks good. As always, lots of good info. I will try to be a little more active. Studying for the upcoming test has taken a lot of my attention away from normal routines. Joe

I recently completed the promtional process for Deputy Chief. Came out 3rd overall with no jobs expected over the course of the 2year list. Good learning experience anyway and not really looking to get into a car anytime soon. I like the truck co. work and still enjoy going into workers. I look forward to reading and posting good stuff here. Joe

On October, 9, 2012, The City of Norwalk Fire Department took delivery of a 42' North River Marine Fire Boat. The boat has been named "The Robert Bedell" in honor and memory of one of our own who died in the line of duty several years ago.

It was. It was the US Port Security Grant. Based on this fact, the boat can be summoned to any reasonable location within the waterways around us. I believe Bridgeport's vessel was obtained in the same manner and Stamford is also getting one. JVC

Thats a 5" discharge for running a feeder line from draft to land. I'll get a spec sheet together for you. Stand by...

As part of the force realignment plan put forth by Chief McCarthy a few years back, Station 1 will be the permanent home to Rescue 1. The final destination for the Tactical Rescue is still not clear, but it could be married to T2 at the new HQ. Once the remodel is done at Station 4 on Westport Avenue, T1 will go there permanently, giving us 3 multi-unit stations in the city and possibly a Captain at each one. Its a great plan, we support it and it has worked well so far. I have a schematic of the training wall designed by Captain Markowitz, once I can find it, I'll post it up. Joe

One of the replies to the article about the councilman ripping the project is from yours truly. The building is awesome and we cannot wait until it is finished and we can move into it. The training wall that will be in the center of the building will be impressive and I believe it will eventually be an article topic in the trade journals.

The guys there acted exemplary for sure!

Pictures from this morning's job in Norwalk.

Great mix of shots Seth! Ending with the little one is priceless! Hope all is well. Hoping you would have got to Norwalk to shoot the new tiller...oh well, maybe next trip! JVC

Just wondering where this was taken.? She shure is pretty though!

No one, and I mean no one, other than my own members are grabbing anything off of my apparatus unless I know about it and give it approval. That is preposterous. What company officer is going to allow equipment to "walk" when he might send one of his own company members back to the rig to get something and expect it to be there? To me, this just promotes freelancing.

After giving it some thought, I probably reacted to the letter to the editor from Mr. Maonis rather knee-jerkedly. I have worked on negotiations committees and assisted in negotiating 2 contracts for my Local so I take any attack on the benefits we have very harshly. Like you said, the benefits we enjoy today were obtained by members who served many generations ago. We are in the fight of our lives to keep the benefits we have and we don't need some jackass telling the public that we are assaulting the system and getting carte blanche benefits. It sickens me. I have no ill feelings against volunteers. Just some of the systems they may have in place to promote their own. Mr. Maonis' attack on our benefits is out of line. I know that they are all involved in a quarrel in Stamford and its none of my business, but this garbage spewing big mouth needs to knock it off and go back to his job and let us do ours. And...for the record, I do hope that he sees my comments here.

He should have known that his identity would be called out for who he is or claims to be.

Sounds to me like someone is jealous. All the aformentioned "perks" that we as career, professional firefighters get are called compensation for doing things during a career that should really not have to be explained to a chief or on a FD blog. Hold on a minute, how did this "chief" get his rank? by default because nobody else was qualified for the job, or maybe all his buddies "voted" him in at a "meeting"? What a freaking joke! You want to publicly blast career firefighters...be prepared for the backlash. I write this as a proud member of the IAFF. The organization who helps us get and keep the benefits we enjoy for doing this work to support our families.

Attached is a picture from our pre-delivery inspection at KME in PA. You could find more pictures of the new TDA in the photo gallery of our website, www.local830.org.

For the most part, it has it's own saws, ladders, hooks and forcible entry stuff. We would take the critical things off of the in-service tower ladder when we went out training on the ALF just in case we happened upon something or were put on a run. The critical items are the EMS gear, the RIT stuff and our SCBA's. I would also take officer stuff like elevator keys, map books, thermal imaging camera and my beloved rex tool. It has worked well, but now we are exclusively driver training with the new rig. It is being outfitted with more and more stuff as the days go on. It will be in service within the next few weeks I imagine.

We actually traded it to Hastings on Hudson for a old reserve rescue truck that we had (R3). We have been using for training and running calls when out on training. It has been well equipped and hopefully will be a viable spare going forward, Here are the twins...

I'm very interested in how these Ferrara's are going to hold up in the City. It's wierd seeing a rear mount going to FDNY that is NOT a Seagrave.

Bottom line...there is a enormous duplication of resources in Stamford (and elsewhere too) that are costing taxpayers big money. This hair-brained scheme the mayor is trying to enact only makes that duplication of resources worse! There, I said it. Truth hurts sometimes. JVC

Totally agreed. Exactly what I have been saying all along.

I could tell you one person who could legally disregard the process to change the charter...a JUDGE with an INJUNCTION stopping the whole mess before another resident of Stamford loses their house or worse because of incompetency and lack of sufficient fire department structure to handle whatever is thrown at them. If you recall, this was the case several years ago at LRFC station 2.

In the interest of public and firefighter safety, perhaps these "charters" that we hear so much about need to be reexamined and perhaps revised. Is there anything in this charter that says it's ok for houses to burn to the ground because sufficient personnel are not available to respond? Explain this charter to the person who has lost everything because of a silly, infantile turf war. I'm sorry, but I am tired of hearing about this charter that was drawn up in the good old days and applied well then, but clearly not now. This has nothing to do with paid vs. volunteer, just a matter of public and firefighter safety.

And Joe: this is not so much a paid vs. Volunteer debate as it is a discussion of a turf war. I know I appear biased because I'm a career guy, but there is no place for this type of behavior on the fire ground. It's wrong on so many levels.

You could defend this guy all you want Pete, but the bottom line is the SFRD Chief on scene has a solid reputation of professionalism and 511 has a reputation of using his rank to stir the pot and create a atmosphere of animosity in Springdale. You are going out on a very weak limb trying to defend this mess.